Thursday, May 12, 2011

Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz imputed sinister motives in the recent decision of the Sandiganbayan to uphold the plea bargaining agreement entered into between the Office of the Ombudsman and former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia and in denying the Office of the Solicitor General’s (OSG’s) bid to intervene in the case for the government as Cadiz floated a theory that the agreement was a “done deal” early as May last year —before President Aquino won the election — and that the recent ruling was just “a formality.”

“My thesis is the Sandiganbayan approved the deal on May 4 last year when President Aquino was leading mightily in the surveys. The Sandiganbayan only wanted Gen. Garcia to comply with some conditions, or to transfer your assets to the government. So when he complied, the court just came up with a resolution formalizing the deal,” he explained.

Cadiz said the OSG will insist on its legal standing to intervene in the plea-bargaining agreement between the Ombudsman and before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court..... MORE

The congressional bicameral conference committee yesterday approved a bill creating a body that would oversee the operations of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).

The move, aimed at curbing the alleged excesses of some officials of the GOCCs, will look over the 157 GOCCs under the present Aquino administration.

Sen. Franklin Drilon said the approval of the bill will institute wide-ranging reforms in government corporations.

“This law will create a Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) which will review the performance of these GOCCs. The abusive practices of the board — as we have seen in the MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System) — of granting 36-month pay for 12 months of work, or in GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) where the directors would earn half a million pesos for attending one board meeting,” he told a press conference yesterday..... MORE